Merry Christmas, Angelina
by Miss Informed
Summary: [TwoShot] Angelina's always tried to have the perfect life. When it all falls apart, who will be there for her? AF Takes place in PoA, minor swearing. Kind of fluff. Let's say it's a fluff predecessor.
1. Part the First

Merry Christmas, Angelina:

Part I

_Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all other characters are the sole property of JK Rowling. I'm just borrowing them._

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Angelina Johnson woke with a start, breathing heavily. That recurring nightmare had, as all recurring nightmares do, come back. She tried to fall asleep once more, but sleep just would not come. Sighing, she slipped out of bed, put her robe on over her nightgown, and quietly walked to the common room. 

It was probably the stress that was causing her to have these nightmares, as they were about losing the Quidditch Cup to Slytherin. Angelina could deal with losing the Quidditch Cup, but she just couldn't handle losing to _them._ It was bad enough that the Gryffindor team had lost to Hufflepuff, but to lose the Quidditch Cup to Slytherin _again_ would just be unbearable.

Harry. Yet another factor in Angelina's stress. Even though the loss of the game to Hufflepuff was not his fault; she couldn't help but blame him for the losing game.

Angelina sat down on the sofa in the corner of the common room and stared at the dying fire. She glanced at her watch. 1:00. "Merry Christmas," she said to herself sarcastically. She wanted to cry; she really did. Her 'perfect' life had been going down the drains for over a year now, and it looked like Quidditch, the last perfect thing in her life, washeading down the drains.She replayed everything that had gone wrong in the past year in her mind.

It all started with her parents divorcing. She usually went home for the Christmas holidays, but decided to stay at Hogwarts this time so she could avoid being fought over. They were always fighting about something, and it usually turned violent, so she figured the divorce was for the best. It still hurt her, though. Christmas used to be the time when no one in the Johnson household would fight, and everything would be happy. But that was a shadow of a memory now.

Also, there was the _tiny, little_ _fact that her father's girlfriend __hated__ her._ She didn't know why; the woman just acted like Angelina had some sort of contagious, incurable disease. When her father and Janine (the girlfriend) went out with Janine's four year old daughter, Angelina was left at home so she could clean the house.

Then there was the fact that O.W.Ls were coming up, and Angelina was nervous. She worried that she wouldn't pass, which would end with her expulsion from Hogwarts.

Finally she had recieved word from her mother that she wasn't wanted at home anyway, because she was too involved with Rick, her new boyfriend of the month. Even though she didn't even spend summer holidays with her mother, it still hurt Angelina deeply.

She felt the tears welling up. She wouldn't let herself cry; she _couldn't_. She shook her head and continued staring at the fire. Angelina absentmindedly started to clench and unclench her fists, trying to banish her demons. The tears resumed building, threatening to fall. She continued to clench and unclench her fists, all the while staring at the embers in the fireplace.

"You know," came a voice from behind her, "keeping all of that to yourself isn't very healthy, Ang."

Angelina turned around to face Fred Weasley. "I'm not keeping anything to myself, Fred," she coldly replied.

He walked over and sat down next to her. "If I didn't know better, I'd say you were dealing with some pretty frustrating things, judging by the way you were clenching your fists," he continued.

She sighed in defeat. "Fine, you got me. I'm just stressed. Nothing to worry about here."

Fred raised his eyebrow. "Right. That explains why you've been sitting here for half an hour close to tears on Christmas morning. I really believe you, Ang."

Angelina glared at him. "Well, I'm telling the truth," she lied.

Fred _still_ didn't believe her. "Look, it might just be me, but your quest for the perfect life is getting a little crazy. Nobody has a perfect life; you of _all people_ should know that. Katie's life isn't perfect, Alicia's life isn't perfect, hell, even Harry's life isn't perfect. Why are you trying to hold on to a fantasy when you have a great life right here?" He was concerned about her; he really was.

Angelina couldn't hold the tears back any longer. "Oh Fred! I-I really tried t-to keep everything t-together! The Hufflepuff game was a disaster! Wood's s-so disappointed! O.W.Ls are coming up a-and I'm sure I'm going to fail!A-and my father owled m-me the other day, a-and he t-told me that he and J-Janine were getting m-married! H-how am I supposed t-to spend summer with t-them and survive?" She didn't tell him about her mother; it wasn't worth getting worked up about, in Angelina's opinion.

Fred held her close to him and tried his best to comfort her. "First of all, you aren't a failure. You're a damn good chaser, and you know it. Second, if you're going to have to spend summer holiday with that woman, then I won't stand for it. You're coming home with me this summer, and there isn't a thing you can do about it," he said. "And third of all, Ange, you'll do fine on the O.W.Ls. If you have to worry about anyone failing, it'd probably be best if you worried about Lee. It always makes people feel better to worry about Lee."

Angelina felt better knowing that Fred was her friend and that he'd be there for her when she needed it. "Thanks," she said softly.

"No problem, Ange," he replied.

They stayed like this for well over an hour, until they both fell asleep.

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_So, how'd you like it? The next (and final) chapter will either be uploaded tomorrow, Christmas Day, or the 26th._

_Review if you see fit!_

_Cricket-chan, 12/24/2004_


	2. Part the Second

Merry Christmas, Angelina:

Part II

_A/N: Hey, thanks for reading this far! I hope you've enjoyed it! **Also, **__**I'm a moron and forgot that in OotP, the Weasleys, Hermione, and Harry aren't at Hogwarts for Christmas, so I had to re-set the story to George, Fred, Angelina, Lee, and Alicia's fifth year, which would be in PoA. Sorry, but you might want to re-read chapter one, because I changed a lot.**__ Sorry. _

_**Bunny-san-**__ I'm glad you thought it was cute!_

_**Alli-Baby-**__ You liked it? I'm glad. Don't worry; I've got plans for a multi-chapter coming as soon as I get further on my Rurouni Kenshin multi-chapter fic. _

_**Angelina's Twin-**__Here's the second chapter._

_**Tivkah Ariel-**__ Overly cliché and dramatic? Knowing me, that's a given. Sorry 'bout that. I wasn't too happy with that chapter, and I wrote it in thirty minutes. Please forgive me. And I'm updating a little behind schedule because for the past few days, I have been dragged around town by my family in order to hit all of the after-Christmas sales. I hope this chapter will be better. Oh, and as you can see, I did get around to updating. Yay me!_

_Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all other places and/or characters are the sole property of JK Rowling. I'm just borrowing them._

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Christmas morning dawned, and it brought eight overexcited Gryffindor teenagers with it. They came bounding down the staircase, wrapped presents in their arms, and stopped abruptly when the common room sofa came into view. George, Alicia, Katie, Ginny, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Lee's eyes widened in surprise as they tiptoed around the sofa to get a good look at this odd spectacle. Katie, still half asleep, feared for the worst.

"Th-they're not dead, are they?" she asked, frightened. Contrary to popular belief, Katie wasn't much of a morning person. She yawned and watched as Lee poked Fred in the stomach.

"Wake up, sleeping beauty," Lee said in a sing-song tone. "You're going to miss Christmas. No presents, or food, or friends, or food, or Wizard's Chess, or food! Did I mention that you weren't going to get any FOOD?" Fred just grumbled something incoherently and rolled over.

It was at this time that George stepped forward in order to attempt to wake Fred up, which, might I add, was a feat within itself. "Oi, Fred," he whispered. Fred simply mumbled once again, but George took that as a sign of intent listening. "I think you're crushing Angelina to death."

Fred's eyes shot open. He jumped off the sofa, only to realize that Angelina was not crushed and that she was very much alive, thank you very much. Alicia then carefully walked over to the sofa and proceeded to awaken Angelina. "Ohhh Angeliiiiiiiiina! Present time, dahhling!" Alicia half-yelled in the most bizarre accent anyone in the room had ever heard before. Needless to say, it woke Angelina up quite well.

"Shut up, Leesh," she said as she sat up, stifling a yawn. Fred was already running up the staircase to collect his presents so he could open them with the group, and Angelina went with Alicia and Katie to do the same. Lee started to pace the room impatiently before walking to the bottom of the staircase and yelling at the others to hurry.

Five minutes later, everyone was assembled in the common room with their presents. Lee unwrapped his presents first, followed by Fred, then George, next Ron, then Harry, who was followed by Hermione, who was followed by Ginny, then Katie, then Alicia, and finally, Angelina. After all the presents were unwrapped, the eight Gryffindors changed into some actual clothes and went out to the grounds to build snowmen, but that plan was quickly replaced by something a tad bit more violent.

It was all Fred's fault. Really, it was. All Angelina was doing was putting the arms in the snowman that she, Alicia, and Katie were building. Everything was going fine until she heard someone calling her name.

"Oi! Angelina!"

She looked up, completely unprepared for what followed. "What, Fred?" she asked impatiently.

She saw it coming. It took her a moment to register exactly what the round, white projectile flying at her face was, and by the time she realized what the projectile was, it was too late. Her face was covered in cold, wet snow. She blinked a few times, trying to calm herself down, but to no avail. "FRED WEASLEY! YOU JUST WAIT UNTIL I GET MY HANDS ON YOU!" She started to stomp over to him, fury in her eyes. When she reached him, she picked up a pile of snow and dropped it on his head.

"That was pathetic," he said, laughing. Angelina started to laugh, too.

"I know. It's your fault anyway," she said as she dropped another pile of snow on his head. A very large 'let's drop snow on Random Person A's head' fight began.

One hour later, eight dripping Gryffindors walked back through the portrait hole.

"This is all Fred's fault," Ginny said, wringing out her soaked hair.

"Why is it my fault? You're my favorite sister. Don't be siding with them," whined Fred.

"First of all, it's your fault because you threw the first snowball, consequently hitting Angelina in the face. Second of all, I'm your only sister," she replied.

"Well, I'mgoing upstairs,"Fred as he started up the dormitory stairs to take a shower.

Soon after, Alicia and Katie dragged Angelina up to the room that Alicia, Angelina, and the other fifth year girls shared to interrogate her.

"So, Angelina… what happened last night?" Katie asked eagerly.

"Shut up, Katie," said Angelina. "Nothing happened."

"That _really_ explains what you were doing asleep on the sofa with Fred Weasley last night," Alicia replied. "We're only curious. If it makes you _that_ uncomfortable, we won't press you."

"It's fine. I was just under stress and I was ranting to Fred, and we just kind of… dozed off," Angelina said softly. "There's nothing more to it."

"He's so nice to have put up with that. I think he likes you," Katie thought aloud. She was quickly silenced by the look that Angelina gave her.

"He doesn't like me. He's just my friend," Angelina replied. "Nothing more to it," she added sadly.

Katie and Alicia exchanged glances, but went back to idly chatting.

In the boys' dormitory, Fred was going through a similar interrogation.

"So," began Lee, "what happened last night? You know, with Angelina?"

Fred sighed. "Lee, nothing happened. Angelina was just stressed about her grades and family situation, so she ranted at me. We then sort of… fell asleep," he said quietly. "It was absolutely nothing."

George raised an eyebrow. "Sure, Fred. Whatever. Let me just say this. I think you _fancy_ our dear Miss Johnson."

Fred's ears turned a slight shade of pink. "Nah. Me like Ange? You've got to be kidding."

Lee just sat on his bed with a serious expression. "I'm not an expert on the subject of girls, but I'd say that she might like you, too. Just a thought, though," he said.

Fred glared at Lee. "Well I don't like her."

George just smiled to himself. "It was only a passing thought. No need to get mad," he replied.

The rest of the day passed quickly; the feast was fine. But later that night, Angelina lay awake in her bed, questioning her feelings for a certain Weasley twin.

"Ok, so I like him. Just a little bit, though. Just a schoolgirl crush," she said to herself quietly before drifting off into a fitful sleep. Little did she know, someone else was questioning _his _feelings for a certain Gryffindor chaser.

"Ok, so I fancy her. Just a tad, though. A simple crush. Nothing more," Fred said to himself before falling into a dreamless sleep. Sadly, at Hogwarts, the walls have ears. This time,the ears were named Alicia Spinnet and George Weasley.

**To be continued in a multi-chapter fic, 'Girls and Boys', coming Mid-January/Sometime in February 2005.**

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_He-he. Little did you guys know that this was actually a prequel to my upcoming multi-chapter fic. **I need to repeat that **__**you should re-read chapter one, as I made a big mistake with the fact that in OotP, the Weasleys and the trio aren't at Hogwarts for Christmas. I have re-set this fic to the PoA setting, so I've edited the first chapter a lot.**__ Thanks for reading, and I need to mention that the title of Girls and Boys__ comes from a song by Ayumi Hamasaki, who is a Japanese singer, meaning the song is __not__ in English. I suggest you hear it; it's really good. IM me at __oOCricketchanOo if you'd like to hear it; I'd be more than happy to send you the song. Also, feel free to email me with pestering about Girls and Boys at(remove spaces & words in parenthesis and replace them with the correct symbol.) cricketchan (at) hotmail (dot) com__. Thanks for reading!_

_Cricket-chan, __12-28-2004_


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